Supercharged! Could This Be The Year For The Boys in Bolts?

The last few years in San Diego have been heartbreaking, losses to the New England Patriots two years in a row, a tough defeat against the Pittsburgh Steelers, and a horrific defeat to the New York Jets. Though the Chargers have ran the table in the AFC West, there is a chance that their SuperBowl chances are diminishing. They must do something fast. And with some of the AFC powerhouses on the decline, this is their chance.

As recent years past, we have seen a trend of Superbowl losers not being able to make it back in the playoff run. this can be a plus for the Chargers.

In 2008, the Patriots loss to the New York Football Giants in the Superbowl after a stunning undefeated regular season. In the first game of the season, their star slinger Tom Brady took a season ending knee injury, they didnt make it to the playoffs season and lost the wildcard to Baltimore this past January.

Peyton Manning and his Indianapolis Colts must be cautious this season and pick up the mistakes from this last Superbowl after losing despite one of the biggest, and best seasons for Peyton. The ultimate gunfight between him and Drew Brees showed that the former Chargers quarterback was the better equipped in the air game. Now to keep his spot as one of the best quarterbacks in the league, he must take the defeated Colts back to the playoffs atleast.

With Pittsburgh in a struggle with their top players, and the Madden curse(or just coincidence) plaguing SS Troy Polamalu, they have much to prove to be back in a contending spot.

With all of that aside, the Chargers must take this advantage and dominate the division before the big powers come back. With Pro-Bowlers WR Vincent Jackson and LT Marcus Mcneil possibly holding out for 10 games(Jackson also recently suspended for 3 games for violating the NFL personal conduct policy), there will have to be a slight tweak to their game. But with Pro Bowler TE Antonio Gates, WR Malcolm Floyd who had an exploding season last year, a New add on with WR Josh Reed and WR Legadu Naanee to pick up the slack, QB Philip Rivers may not notice a difference.

Philip Rivers is one of the top NFL quarterbacks with of the best passer ratings in the game, and a winning percentage just below Tom Brady for active QBs. The only thing that can stop Rivers from being the only top QB of his draft year not to have a Superbowl ring is a repeat of a low running game production that San Diego produced last year.

With aging LaDainian Tomlinson out of the picture, the chargers hope for a better year with Top running back of the NCAA Last year, former bulldog Ryan Matthews will have to take the reins along with KR/RB Darren Sproles to turn the running game in San Diego back into one of the top ranked seen years prior.

Though the Chargers defense is not the best, I believe the 3-4 defense will be able to hold their own.

In conclusion, San Diego has to go big, or go home. With a whole opponent record of 116-140-0 from the 2009 season, NFL reports their schedule will be ranked 29th for toughest schedule. So hopefully it should be quite easy to take back the AFC west division title for the fifth season straight, bringing 6 division titles out of 10 since 2000. San Diego must do what they can to produce a championship. 

My personal opinions and tips for next year are simple.

1. Run,Run,Run: as much as possible, keep the ball on the ground, make sure to produce yardage, and keeping the defense off the field. This should give Rivers a chance to keep his options fresh during the play action pass and also keeping the defense from smothering him all season.

2. When in doubt, throw it up: a reason for the Rivers success at QB, is the fact that his options are above average height against many defenders, and this plays important factor in the endzones and down field with their capability of getting in the air and grabbing the ball before anyone else does, use this advantage as much as possible. 

3. Defense: keeping the defense fresh will help in the long run, if the offense can keep pushing down the field and keep the defense off the field, this can help fight fatigue, and injury amongst the squad and be ready for playoffs.

And last of all, and certainly the most important, 4. Get the ball in the uprights in January: I'm not gonna sprinkle it on at all, K Nate Kaeding has the tendency to kick wide right when it matters the most, during the playoffs. If Nate can learn to control this mistake, San Diego should have a better shot than last year.